Sea Empress Disaster

A massive oil spill in Pembrokeshire dominated the news in the first
months of 1996.

1996 Diary:

Thursday 15 February 1996, 8.07 pm.The single-hulled 'Sea Empress', with 131,000 tonnes of North Sea
crude oil aboard, ran aground just outside the entrance to Milford Haven.
The initial grounding released 2500 tonnes of oil into the sea. The weather
was reasonably calm, and the tanker was refloated on the rising tide.

Friday 16 February. Ship held in position
at the entrance of Milford Haven by 4 tugs. The plan was to transfer oil
to other vessels; this had been accomplished from smaller vessels in calm
weather before. With gales forecast it seemed that the problem was worse
than we had imagined as the vessel could not be towed into port. The first
10 mile oil slick was washed ashore.

Saturday 17 February. The 'Sea Empress'
was pulled clear of its original position. Problems began as the holding
cables snapped and the tanker's engine room was flooded. It grounded again
and in view of the previous record in oil spills a disaster appeared to
be imminent. The plan to tow the tanker out into safer deeper water was
not undertaken.

Sunday 18 February. The crew were taken
off the ship in a Gale Force 9 and high strong-running tides. A Chinese
tug got a line to the stricken vessel. The Sea Empress broke free of smaller
tugs and became stuck on rocks. The motion of the sea moving the ship about
ground holes in the hull. Disaster was now certain.

Monday 19 February. Smaller tugs took
over but there were no plans to move the tanker. Instead it was intended
to secure the ship in its position at the entrance to Milford Haven. Five
tugs were unable to control the tanker and it drifted across the Haven
entrance then ran aground for a third time. It was impaled on rocks and
there were fears of serious damage. A further 20,000 tonnes of oil was
leaked.

Tuesday 20 February. Despite the loss
of oil and highest tides the ship was still unable to be refloated. It
was estimated that nearly 50,000 tonnes of oil was leaked overnight.

The
oil reached Sandersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire

Wednesday 21 February. The ship
was finally refloated at 7.00 pm, but the total amount of oil lost was
at least 71,800 tonnes. 12 tugs towed the 'Sea Empress', minus more than
half of its oil, to a berth in Milford Haven. The remaining crude oil was
still leaking from ruptured tanks in the ship.

Thursday 22 February. Preparations were
made to pump the remaining oil out of the Sea Empress.

Friday 23 February. The remaining oil
began to be pumped out of the ship.

Saturday 24 February. The clean-up continues
and the disaster was no longer national news.

Notes:

There are no plans for a Public Enquiry. The Marine Investigation
Board (MAIB) is conducting an investigation into the cause of the grounding
and the planning, execution and direction of the salvage operation and
its effectiveness in minimising the pollution. A separate study chaired
by Professor Ron Edwards will investigate the environmental impact of the
oil spill, including the consideration of the clean-up techniques. #